Sharp differences have emerged between the Government and the North's First Minister over how to manage the crisis in the North's political process just two days before the expected suspension of the power-sharing institutions.
With the Executive and Assembly expected to be suspended on Monday, the Government does not support the idea of a "shadow administration" involving Mr David Trimble and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Mark Durkan.
Government sources said last night they still wanted the British and Irish governments to jointly manage the political process, an idea described yesterday by Mr Trimble as "utter folly".
However, Mr Trimble signalled support for the proposal that he and Mr Durkan would jointly manage a "shadow administration". If the institutions were suspended, moral and political authority "can only be derived . . . from the First and Deputy First Ministers," he declared.
Government sources said there was "no basis" for such an arrangement: "If you suspend the institutions they are gone," one source said. The Government sources repeated their view that only the two governments, acting through structures set up under the Belfast Agreement, could manage the process while the institutions were suspended.
The DUP yesterday withdrew its Ministers from the Executive in advance of the announcement by Dr John Reid, expected on Monday, that the institutions are being suspended.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, declared that the Belfast Agreement was "history" as his party withdrew his ministers from the Executive. He claimed the current political institutions at Stormont could not be restored in the future, and that his party would not sit in government with Sinn Féin ministers again.
The resignations of the Social Development Minister, Mr Nigel Dodds, and the Regional Development Minister, Mr Peter Robinson, took effect from noon yesterday.
While Mr Robinson yesterday again called for early Assembly elections, the Government made it clear it would oppose holding such elections any earlier than the scheduled May 1st date.
It is understood that both governments fear that early elections would favour both the DUP and Sinn Féin, and would make a resumption of the political institutions afterwards more difficult.
A period during which progress could be made on policing, demilitarisation and the key issue of continued paramilitary activity and capacity is seen by them as crucial to the prospects for future stability.
The Government was surprised yesterday by the vehemence of Mr Trimble's opposition to the idea that the two governments would now manage the process. Speaking in Dublin after a meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, Mr Trimble said there was no basis in the agreement for such a move.
He said this would involve tearing up the Belfast Agreement, and "if it's torn up for that reason you might find it is torn up more comprehensively . . . those who take that line are treading on very dangerous ground."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said yesterday that the Government's priority was to rebuild trust between the two communities in the North. "There has been a crisis of confidence in both communities as regards to the intentions of the other side," he said.